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Sir Rod Stewart is proud to announce the release of his first-ever solo-career-spanning hits collection. Due out on 27 June 2025, Ultimate Hits will land just days before Stewart takes to the Pyramid Stage at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, where he will perform before an estimated crowd of 80,000 people during the coveted Sunday afternoon “Legends” slot.
“I love what I do, and I do what I love”
– Rod Stewart
Released as part of Stewart’s ongoing 80th-birthday celebrations, Ultimate Hits presents stand-out moments from the legendary singer’s remarkable solo career. Starting with his signature breakthrough songs ‘Handbags and Gladrags‘ and ‘Maggie May‘, the collection also includes the bold social commentary of ‘The Killing of George (Part I and II)‘ and ‘Young Turks‘, the dancefloor-detonating disco smash ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?’, raucous rave-ups such as ‘Hot Legs‘ and ‘Baby Jane’, and the masterful ballads ‘Sailing‘, ‘Rhythm of My Heart‘ and ‘For the First Time‘. A 2CD deluxe edition will bring the story bang up to date with ‘Ain’t Misbehavin” and ‘Almost Like Being in Love‘, highlights from 2024’s Swing Fever album, Stewart’s UK No. 1 collaboration with Jools Holland.
Unifying all these stylistic switches is that voice: an instrument in its own right which has made Stewart one of the most distinctive singers in rock history.
As Stewart prepares to hit the road throughout 2025, his own history is now the stuff of legend. Inspired by original US rock’n’rollers such as Little Richard and Bill Haley & The Comets, Stewart was at the forefront of the UK rock’n’roll explosion when he formed his own skiffle group in the 1950s. And he’s remained at the head of the pack ever since, whether performing with British blues legends Long John Baldry and Jeff Beck, cementing his “Rod the Mod” credentials as frontman of Faces in the early 1970s, or filling stadiums around the world as a solo star in his own right.
Many of the songs included on Ultimate Hits have made Stewart’s live shows must-see events for decades. ‘Maggie May‘ kickstarted it all when it went to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, and since then Stewart has topped the UK charts a further five times (‘You Wear It Well‘, ‘Sailing‘, the double A-side release ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About It’/’The First Cut is The Deepest‘, ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?‘, ‘Baby Jane‘) while also shooting to the US top spot with ‘Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)‘ and ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?‘. With Top 5 hits worldwide in each consecutive decade, and multi-platinum sales in both the US and the UK, Stewart can rightly claim to be one of the best-selling artists of all time.
Now, with 11 UK and four US No. 1 albums to his name – not to mention BRIT and Grammy Awards, and a double induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Stewart’s remarkable career continues to peak. In 2025, highlights include the return of his highly anticipated One Last Time tour, which launches another European leg on 23 April; a return to his record-breaking Las Vegas residency, The Encore Shows, in May and September; and bringing his One Last Time tour to North America, South America and back to Europe to close out the year. The tour, which has been thrilling audiences across Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, is a box-office smash, grossing among the Top 20 global concert tours of 2024. In addition, Stewart will reunite with Billy Joel at Yankee Stadium, New York City, on 18 July, and at Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati, on 20 September.
Amid all this, Ultimate Hits will serve as a reminder of the undeniable impact that Stewart has had on music. And he’s not done yet. Those hot legs have got plenty more in them…
Tickets for Rod Stewart’s 2025 tour dates can be bought here.
Ultimate Hits is available from Warner Music, in association with Iconic Artists Group, in an array of formats, including collector’s 2LP green vinyl and ½ & ½ green-and-white vinyl variants, a 1CD and 2CD deluxe edition, store-exclusive alternative-cover variants, and limited-edition cassette and Blu-ray audio, as well as being available digitally.
Pre-order Ultimate Hits here.
Tracklisting
‘Handbags and Gladrags’
‘Maggie May’
‘In a Broken Dream’ (by Python Lee Jackson)
‘You Wear It Well’
‘Sailing’
‘I Don’t Want to Talk About It’
Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)’
‘The First Cut is the Deepest’
‘The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)’
‘You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)’
‘Hot Legs’
‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?’
‘Young Turks’
‘Baby Jane’
‘Some Guys Have All the Luck’
‘Forever Young’
‘Downtown Train’
‘Have I Told You Lately’
‘Rhythm of My Heart’
‘For the First Time’
2CD deluxe-edition bonus tracks
‘Oh! No Not My Baby’
‘I Was Only Joking’
‘Every Beat of My Heart’
‘The Motown Song’ (with The Temptations)
‘Sometimes When We Touch’
‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain’
‘One More Time’
‘Hold On’
‘Ain’t Misbehavin”
‘Almost Like Being in Love’
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